Henry's Theatre - The theatrical music of Henry Purcell in a folk setting

by Henry's Theatre

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1.	Monkeys Dance 02:52	info	buy track
2.	Abdelazer No.9 03:24	info	buy track
3.	Fairy Queen Air No.14 03:24	info	buy track
4.	Abdelazer No.6 03:00	info	buy track
5.	King Arthur's Chaconne 03:21	info	buy track
6.	The Curiously Impertinent Jiggs 05:48	info	buy track
7.	Two Dances from Dioclesian 04:45	info	buy track
8.	Fairy Queen Entry Dance No.15 03:05	info	buy track
9.	Dance for the Haymakers 02:50	info	buy track
10.	The Gordian Knot Untyed (2 and 7) 03:14	info	buy track
11.	The Old Bachelor's Hornpipe 02:21	info	buy track
12.	Dance for the Fairies 01:57	info	buy track
13.	Hornpipe from Suite in D major 03:30	info	buy track
14.	Double Dealer Air No.8 03:28	info	buy track
15.	King Arthur and the Fairy Queen 06:30	info	buy track
16.	The Princess of Persia Nos.1 and 2 04:12	info	buy track
17.	Princess of Persia 2nd Act Tune 02:25	info	buy track
18.	A British Heroine - Good Luck At Last ! 03:22	info	buy track
19.	Bonduca No.5 Hornpipe 03:17	info	buy track
20.	Scotch Tune and Aire 03:30	info	buy track
21.	Almand and Corant (from Suite in G major) 02:39	info	buy track
22.	Double Dealer Air No4 03:49	info	buy track

about

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) wrote a prodigious amount of music in his short 37-year life, covering every genre from which he felt able to generate an income, ranging from music for the Church and Royal occasions, to bawdy songs for public houses (and just about everything in between). His music for the theatre in particular was admired by Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Britten.

Our UK folk group has been together for about twenty years, but it's now time to retire. Our last project together has been to work on and record arrangements of many of the pieces from Purcell's theatrical repertoire. The intention is that these arrangements should breathe new life into Purcell's beautiful and deceptively simple melodies and interweaving countermelodies, by presenting them in a relatively modern context.

Each of the pieces in the project comprise (often a medley of) folk-like tunes, usually in the folk-dance 2As, 2Bs (and repeat) form. The components of each medley are pieces that we enjoyed playing and felt went together, and are not necessarily from the same show or collection.

Most of the pieces are performed in the key specified by the composer, but a few have been modified to better suit the playable range of our instruments. We have also taken liberties with the tempo of some of the tunes where we wanted for example to better bring out melodic or harmonic content, or just because we liked to hear them that way !

My thanks to Mike and Judith for all the hard work and time they have invested in this project, and for their excellent performances.

All arrangements are by Graham Laws.

Note that there is more music here than will fit on just one CD !

credits

released April 2, 2019

Judith Gordon : 2-octave Accordions (single and double reeds)
Mike Hicken : Mandolin
Graham Laws : Guitars, Bass, Percussion

Recording/Mixing/Production/Artwork/Photography by Graham Laws

(Multitrack recording techniques have been used because the arrangements contain more music parts than actual players !)

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about

Henry's Theatre Chesterfield, UK

Judith, Mike, and Graham have played together in various dance, concert, and ceilidh bands for almost twenty years. This project is their retirement present.

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